The present invention relates to augmented reality overlays, and more specifically, to filtering information within augmented reality overlays for display on augmented reality devices.
Augmented reality devices display overlays to a user to provide additional information on objects around the user. A well-documented problem with augmented reality devices is knowing which information to display to the user such that the user is not bombarded with irrelevant information on things that the user is not interested in.
Prior art attempts to solve this problem include means of analyzing the user's interests and history to rank potential displays on a smartphone in terms of relevance to the user. One such prior art solution is Google® Now (https://www.google.co.uk/landing/now/). Google Now is an intelligent personal assistant which uses a natural language user interface to answer questions, make recommendations and perform actions by delegating requests to a set of web services. Along with answering user-initiated queries, Google Now proactively delivers information to the user that it predicts she will want, based on her search habits. Whilst Google Now addresses the problem of only showing smartphone displays relevant to the user, it doesn't help reduce the number of overlays displayed on an augmented reality device that may be moving too fast or may be too small for a user to correctly digest.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,687,021 B2 discloses an augmented reality system which personalizes real-world experiences by overlaying or interspersing virtual capabilities (and data) with real world situations. Virtual world information can be filtered, ranked, modified or ignored based upon a particular real-world class, user identity or context.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,743,145 B1 discloses that augmented reality information to be displayed may be filtered based on user preferences and priorities for presentation as a real-time augmented reality overlay to the user.
U.S. Patent Application 2012/0038669 A1 discloses a user equipment, a server, and a method for augmented reality for selecting a filter, and more particularly, to a user equipment, a server for augmented reality (AR), and a method for selecting a filter to apply selective filtering to an object selected by the user.